Aryan Khan extortion case: Sameer Wankhede's 'Whatsapp chats' with Shah Rukh Khan violate rules, say NCB sources

Aryan Khan extortion case: Sameer Wankhede's 'Whatsapp chats' with Shah Rukh Khan violate rules, say NCB sources

NCB officers getting in touch with family members of the accused was a case of rule violation, the agency stated in the light of the talks made between accused Aryan Khan's father Shah Rukh Khan and then-investigating officer Sameer Wankhede

FPJ News ServiceUpdated: Monday, May 22, 2023, 09:32 AM IST
article-image

Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officers said on Sunday that they were examining whether Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer Sameer Wankhede had violated conduct rules by engaging in conversations with Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan while handling the Cordelia cruise ‘drug bust’ case.

“Yes, it is a violation of conduct rules to engage in conversations with the family or relative of an accused while handling a case. We are examining the matter,” said an NCB officer.

Advocate Taraq Sayed said: “There is no legal impediment for an officer to interact with an accused’s relative. When a person is arrested, his/her relative has to be informed.”

Sameer Wankhede quizzed by CBI on Sunday

Wankhede, the former zonal director of NCB Mumbai, was questioned for more than five hours for the second day in a row on Sunday by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is probing the alleged demand for a Rs 25-crore bribe from actor Shah Rukh Khan to not implicate his son Aryan in the drug bust case.

The CBI is probing the assets acquired by Wankhede, his foreign visits, misdeclared expenditure of his foreign travels and the source of his foreign visits.

Wankhede reached the CBI office in the Bandra-Kurla Complex around 10.30am on Sunday. As he entered the office, Wankhede told reporters he had ‘faith in the judiciary’. He was allowed a lunch break during questioning and left the CBI office for the day around 4.30pm.

He did not respond to queries from the media outside the CBI office but only said, “Satyamev Jayate” (truth only triumphs). On Saturday too, the CBI had questioned Wankhede for more than five hours.

CBI case against Wankhede

The CBI had booked Wankhede and four others, including V V Singh (NCB superintendent), intelligence officer Ashish Ranjan and two persons, K P Gosavi and Sanville D’souza, on May 11, for alleged criminal conspiracy and threat of extortion, besides provisions pertaining to bribery under the Prevention of Corruption Act on a complaint by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).

Relief from Bombay High Court

On Friday, Wankhede got relief from the Bombay High Court, which directed the CBI not to take any ‘coercive action’, such as arrest, against him till May 22.

Seeking the quashing of the FIR, Wankhede alleged before the HC that the ‘draft complaint’ in the 2021 cruise ship drugs case had named Aryan Khan as an accused, but was dropped later.

Cordelia Cruise case

Aryan Khan was arrested by the NCB on October 3, 2021, following the alleged drug seizure on board the Cordelia cruise ship. He was granted bail by the high court three weeks later, as the anti-drugs agency failed to substantiate its charges against him.

The CBI alleged that the NCB’s Mumbai zone received information in October 2021 about the consumption and possession of narcotic substances by various individuals on the cruise ship, and some NCB officers conspired to get bribes from the accused in return for letting them off.

Wankhede had denied the allegations against him. His petition in the HC provided transcripts of his phone chats with Shah Rukh Khan in the period Aryan was in NCB custody. It cited Khan as pleading with Wankhede to be kind to his son and praising the officer for his ‘uprightness’.

RECENT STORIES

Navi Mumbai: Waiter Stabbed To Death In Vashi While Trying To Save Himself During Bag Theft By...

Navi Mumbai: Waiter Stabbed To Death In Vashi While Trying To Save Himself During Bag Theft By...

Mumbai News: Trust Files Petition In Bombay HC Challenging Cancellation Of Wilson College Gymkhana...

Mumbai News: Trust Files Petition In Bombay HC Challenging Cancellation Of Wilson College Gymkhana...

Mumbai: MSCPCR Objects To Maharashtra Govt's 'Selfie' Directive For Students; Writes Letter To CM...

Mumbai: MSCPCR Objects To Maharashtra Govt's 'Selfie' Directive For Students; Writes Letter To CM...

Mumbai: Scorching Heat Leads To 13 New Stroke Cases; Reveals Public Health Dept

Mumbai: Scorching Heat Leads To 13 New Stroke Cases; Reveals Public Health Dept

Mumbai: Central Railway's Mumbai-Hazrat Nizamuddin Rajdhani And Mumbai-Nagpur Duronto Express Trains...

Mumbai: Central Railway's Mumbai-Hazrat Nizamuddin Rajdhani And Mumbai-Nagpur Duronto Express Trains...